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KEV BROWN BIO

Biography

Kev Brown

American producer/artist hailing from Landover, Maryland, United States. Member of the MD/Washington, DC-based hip hop collective Low Budget.

Kev Brown's soulful style of production has earned him comparisons to revered producers such as Pete Rock, who incidentally helped Brown's career gain some momentum after being introduced to him through Grap Luva.(Petes brother) The pair then went on to collaborate on "What Ruling Means", from Marley Marl's BBE Beat Generation installment Re-Entry (2001). His appearance alongside Grap Luva left an impression on the underground and he subsequently contributed a track to De La Soul's AOI: Bionix later that year.

Kev Brown continued to build his resume with contributions to DJ Jazzy Jeff's "The Magnificent" (2002). As a then-member of Jazzy Jeff's production-for-hire unit A Touch Of Jazz, Brown contributed no less than 7 tracks to the project yet it wasn't until his remix of Jay-Z's The Black Album, aptly titled "The Brown Album" was released in January, 2004 that he began to receive recognition.

As the first producer to do so (to date there are more than 100 submitted remixes of the project), Brown made use of Jay-Z's starpower and commercial appeal.

After numerous productions and collaborations with artists throughout 2003 and 2004, Brown made his debut in 2005 with "I Do What I Do" through the independent Up Above imprint. The single, "Life's A Gamble", followed in early 2006. Among current projects is "Random Joints"(re-released in 2012 with extra bonus material), 2012 also marks the beginning of the Low Budget Records imprint with a partnership with ReDefinition Records.

Production technique

Brown's style as a producer is recognizable for its subtle undertones and strong variety of musical influences. Noted for his complex sample chopping style, bass lines and authentic sounding percussion, he is often mentioned alongside like-minded producers Pete Rock and J Dilla, and has named the former as one of his main musical inspirations. Brown's own style is likable to, and may show some influence, in the work of fellow Low Budget producers Oddisee and DJ Roddy Rod.

As with most "classic" Hip-hop producers, Brown often employs the use of samples, mixed with his own instrumentation such as horns, bells, rhodes, and guitar plucks. His beats may range from the simpler 4-bar loops, to more intricate arrangements that include several layers, and in the case of his R&B tracks, bridge sections. As mentioned before, the most frequently noted aspect of Brown's musicality is his basslines, which he attributes to his study of producers such as Pete Rock, DJ Scratch and J Dilla. Like those producers Brown shows a jazz-minded sensibility, and uses his basslines to create space and nuances within a beat.